


in preparation for you

by Linisen



Series: Fae in the Mist [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: 18OI AU Week 2020: Day 1, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fae & Fairies, Fantasy, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Nordic Mythology - Freeform, Omega Verse, Pining, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, me taking liberties with my inheritances myths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24484825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linisen/pseuds/Linisen
Summary: Älvor was born a pair, one for each and every one of them. A mate intended for them to spend their life with, someone who would love them for their flaws, for their virtues, for their quirks. The mates were not always born the same year, but often close in time - so they did not have to spend long without each other. Victor watched as every one of his contemporary friends found their match. They had all known far longer than when they came together who their fated would be. Fated mates knew the moment their intended was born - and Victor didn’t have one.Or. Fae Prince Victor waits and waits for his soulmate, despair seeping into his bones as hope drains from his body. After being alone for over two hundred years he’s hit by a powerful vision, his soulmate finally appearing in his mind - in the form of a human.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Series: Fae in the Mist [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768708
Comments: 18
Kudos: 202
Collections: 18OI AU Week 2020





	in preparation for you

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 18+ on Ice Discord server’s AU Week - day 1 - Fantasy. This is a prequel for Fae in the Mist which you can read [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19752634).  
> A third part of this series will be posted next week, taking place after the original Fae in the mist fic. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Beta read by the lovely  
> [zjofierose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zjofierose)<3.

The woven-branch hammock Victor was sitting in swayed gently, the tree above him creaking softly as it did. He rested his head against the side of the hammock, watching the festivities in the forest clearing before him with a heavy heart. Old trees stretched towards the heavens, almost grazing the light blue sky, while the field of grass and flowers were warmed by the sun. Spring was upon them, the first flowers on the trees having blossomed, creating a snowfall of pink and white petals each time a gust of wind danced through the branches. It was a beautiful scene. Everyone was overjoyed -- dancing, laughing, celebrating-- but Victor couldn’t join them. His heart ached, loneliness laced in each and every one of his breaths. Everyone always called him dramatic, but it was so easy for them to say, easy for them to look at him with pity in their gaze, to watch the broken prince ache and mourn. It was easy for them, with their fated love in their arms, to tell him to live his life as if nothing was the matter.

The spring dancing was in full swing, and Victor sighed as he watched them, leisurely braiding his long hair, twining it between his fingers. He saw Christophe laugh as he was led by Phichit in the courting dance, green swirling robes moving as they danced. They had been mates for decades now, but it hardly mattered. Spring was the time for courting after all, and no matter how long you had been mated, you still took your mate’s hand and danced for the union of your love. Victor’s mothers were dancing too, their purple robes visible in the tongue of people, singling them out as royalty. They had been the rulers of this kingdom for centuries, mates even longer. 

Victor envied them. He envied all of them. It was a dark and consuming feeling, overpowering any joy he usually felt for the celebration. 

Älvor was born a pair, one for each and every one of them. A mate intended for them to spend their life with, someone who would love them for their flaws, for their virtues, for their quirks. The mates were not always born the same year, but often close in time - so they did not have to spend long without each other. Victor watched as every one of his contemporary friends found their match. They had all known far longer than when they came together who their fated would be. Fated mates knew the moment their intended was born - and Victor didn’t have one. 

It was a feeling, they all said. A warmth spreading through their entire body. Some had felt it always, if their soulmate was older than them, and some got to experience it as their mate was brought into the world, love radiating in their veins. As soon as they saw each other, they knew; a pull stronger than any power, even than the power of their magic or their connection with nature. Victor had seen it happen countless times in his lifetime, and it was a celebration each time. 

Victor doubted it would ever happen to him. 

He sighed again. He really shouldn't be doing this to himself. The longer he watched, the more he was reminded of his loneliness, of his failure. Two hundred years was too long to be alone, Victor’s chest hollowing out with each and every heartbeat. It was not only that he himself would be lonely for the rest of time; he would not be able to bear children without a mate, and thus would be the end of the Nikiforov royal line. He would rule on his own when the time came, and would have to make decisions on who would inherit after him, since he would have no children who could. He had failed as a prince, and he could not fathom why the universe had decided that everyone deserved someone who loved them whole heartedly - except him. 

He pushed out of the hammock, bare feet landing in the soft and sun warmed grass as the white robes he wore fell into place. All unmated wore white, and Victor felt like a child for doing so, everyone else having someone with whom they shared colors. 

He turned into the forest, walking on paths known. Nature stretched towards him as if to give him sympathy, branches caressing his cheeks. Victor brushed his hands through the sprouting greenery, feeling nature's power flow into his body as he did. He took the long way home, branches bending down for him to step up on, climbing higher and higher until he could place his feet on the stone walk leading into his home. The castle was vast and beautiful, white stone rock that had been carved from the mountain, dwelling deep into caves. Greenery sprouted all round it, water cascading down on two sides, but Victor had grown numb to its beauty. He was hollow, heart lacking that final piece. 

The festivals were to go on for a week, this being only the first day, and Victor could not bear it. He had stood proud at each and every celebration, watching, but he couldn't do it anymore. It hurt too much, and he was not strong enough to withstand it. He retreated, hid away in the castle, and decided that he would do so until he found strength to breathe again. 

* * *

  
  


“Would you come out to dance for winter?” Christophe asked, walking next to Victor along the edge of the palace terrace, the part overlooking the water. The leaves on the trees had all fallen off, and it was truly time to dance in winter, to release the heavy clouds from the burden of the heavy snow. It was always beautiful, seeing the colors of everyone’s robes against the whiteness of the snow and ice, as the lands took on a new shape. Victor had always loved winter, but he could not bring himself to dance. He had not left the palace for thirty years, ever since that spring day when he had given up, and all dances for nature should be done on bare ground, where one was closest to its core. 

No, Victor could not dance. There was no energy in his limbs to do so. 

“No,” he answered, meeting his friend’s sad gaze. “I do not have it in me. Forgive my weakness.”   
“It is not a weakness… I cannot imagine being in the situation you are,” Christope said with a deep sigh. Victor’s eyes fell on his fellow omegas neck, and the bond mark there, but looked away. He often felt he was void of emotions, but sometimes pain enveloped his heart anyway when faced with the unreachable. Victor’s neck felt incredibly bare, always, and he couldn’t stand it. “I simply wish you could find joy in it again, as you used to.” 

“Maybe one day I will,” Victor said, even though it was a lie. For each season he spent alone, for each heat he was left with only himself, he closed off more. Soon he would only be a shell, and he would be unable to pull himself out of it. “Tell me about Phichit,” Victor prompted instead to change the subject, and Chris looked at him for a long moment, as if trying to decide if he should really drop the subject or not. Victor waited, but just as Chris was about to speak something sharp pierced Victor’s heart. The pain was intense and searing, leaving him trembling, falling to the floor as he clutched at his heart. The pain was over quickly enough to leave a moment of peace before warmth exploded from Victor’s heart out into his veins. Victor could hear himself scream, and how everything around him was rushing, voices yelling, feet pounding the ground, but he could not hear the sharpness of their voices, or even his own. It was as if he was underwater. Tears sprung to his eyes from the intensity of it all, but the heat simmered down, and his pained cries callmed, leaving him gasping on the grown with his forehead pressed to the white stone. 

Joy, unlike anything he had felt before rushed through him, intertwining with the warmth that had preceded it. Next came something new, foriegn but powerful, and lacing around Victor’s heart, and then settling. In the darkness of his closed eyes he saw a man, more handsome than anyone he had ever seen. The man had dark eyes, brown speckled with gold, short hair black as the night sky, and pink lips stretched into a smile. Victor smiled too, unable to hold back. The image grew into a face, a laugh, a feeling like a touch so close it almost felt real. His cheeks were round but cheekbones sharp, nose slender, lips full, jaw sculpted. He was breathtaking, and he had round ears. 

Victor’s eyes shot up wide, the sensation of warmth still lingering in his veins as he sat up abruptly. Many gathered around him, eyes wide in worry and fear, their scents betraying it. 

Victor barely saw them. He stood, legs shaky, and then took off into a sprint. 

He rushed across the palace bridge, the one he had not crossed in decades, and with hurried feet ,followed paths he had missed to see. The forest was the same yet different, and it welcomed him like a long lost friend, guiding him to the seer’s home. It was in an old oak, and the door opened even before he reached it, welcoming him inside. He had never been in here before, nothing had given him reason. 

He had a good reason now.

The room was filled with shelves covered in vials and books and trinkets, twisting far up into the hollowed out tree. There were rooms further inside, but Victor stopped as he cast eyes on the woman he had come to see. The seer was dressed in lengthy yellow robes, her long black hair twisted into intricate patterns around the yellow and gold glass ornament in her hair. She turned to him with a gentle smile, one he had rarely seen on her face, and he broke into an even wider grin. Had he felt like this before? Before the hollowness and loneliness? It was so powerful now, the happiness and warmth. 

“Your highness,” she greeted with a slight bow, one Victor returned. “There seems to be powerful magic in your veins.”

“Yes- Lilia-,” Victor gasped, slightly out of breath from his sprint. “I think I’ve found them; my mate.” The seer did not answer him immediately, and perhaps she had already known. He had come here for a reason after all. One did usually not come to her when finding out who their soulmate was, if they did not expect them to be far. 

“Were they of a different tribe then? What markings did they have?” she asked as she turned to reach for a book, one Victor assumed contained all the älv tribes. It did not matter. Victor, as future ruler of his own tribe, knew of all the markings of the other tribes, and knew his fated carried none of them.    
“He had round ears,” he said. Lilia stopped reaching, arm falling as she turned to him with wide eyes. “What does it mean?”

“Human,” she breathed, and Victor frowned. He had never heard of that tribe before. “Oh, your highness.” 

“What? What is a human?” he asked, and she ushered him over to the long day bed in the corner of the room, brows pinched. 

“They live in one of the other worlds,” she explained. “They’re much like us in a sense, but they do not feel the natures’ powers, and they do not wield magic, if I remember correctly.”

“How will I find them, if they’re not from here?” Victor asked, fear rising in his throat. He had just gotten them, and they were already slipping through his grasp. Lilia shushed him, and Victor fought against the tears springing to his eyes as she laid him down. Victor complied, and as she placed two fingers between his brows, his entire body became heavy, eyelids blinking close. 

A tingling sensation swirled from the spot the seer was touching in ripples, like tidal waves washing over Victor’s body. Images of the man rushed to his mind again, his voice and laugh so clear, his name known. Victor wanted to reach out and touch him, to let his fingers brush against his cheek, cup his jaw, press their lips together. His arms felt too heavy to reach out, no matter how much Victor tried to raise them. Yuuri was looking at him with a wide smile on his face calling Victor’s name, and Victor’s heart ached in the most wonderful way.

Slowly, the image of the man faded, and Victor opened his eyelids slowly, his body still feeling heavy. He did not know how long he had been laying there, but he wished he didn’t have to wake up. He wanted to go back, he wanted to be with Yuuri. Tears burned in his eyes as he came to look up at the hollow tree, and he sat slowly, legs hanging off the edge of the daybed. Lilia was at her table on the other side of the room, turned towards him. She looked up, and nodded. 

“You have a very strong soul connection, to be able to see his future so well. To know his name. This is good,” she said, eyes falling to her books again.

“Has he just been born?” Victor asked, fingers curling around the edge of the daybed. It was the case for most älvor, for them to sense their fated as soon as they came into the world. Lilia nodded.

“He is a newborn, but humans have a shorter life span than älvor. He should be an adult in twenty five years,” she explained, and Victor smiled. Twenty five years wasn’t long, even if the wait would surely be antagonizing, Victor had waited so long for him, this felt like a breath, and then they could be together. Realisation came to him slowly, and he looked up at her with wide eyes, horror filling his mind.

“Does that mean we will not have long together?” Victor asked, but Lilia shook her head, finger moving down the pages of her book. 

“Not necessarily, it depends on how it will fall out,” she said, terribly unhelpful. Victor's heart ached again. How could the world be this cruel? 

“Tell me,” he asked. “Lilia, please.”   
“A few älvor have previously had human fated mates, rarely with such a long time span between being born, however. The universe must truly have known you two belong to each other,” she started, smiling softly. “The human can come here, and he will fall into our timeline, especially after receiving a bonding mark from his fated mate. You will have limited opportunity to collect him. He must come of his own free will, and therefore can only make the decision when an adult.”

“In twenty five years,” Victor repeated, and Lilia nodded. “Could I stay there, if he does not want to come with me?” 

“No,” she said with a firm shake of head. “You could, but your life force relies on magic, it would not take long for you to dwindle. He’s born in the wrong world, in a way. He’s confined to the human world, but will have the traits of an alpha after you kiss him. It will be like unlocking a door. You are the key to him coming here. You will have to call on him, and he will come if the bond is strong enough.”   
“Will he come here when we meet?” Victor asked. He knew of älvor traveling between worlds, but it was dangerous, and could only be done under certain natural elements. They were all confined to succumb to nature's wishes. Victor had never been to another world, even though he knew some älvor in his tribe had. It was far too dangerous for a prince to go on such adventures. “How will I call on him?”

“We will have to do research, and perhaps set out to talk to those who have collected their mate from the human world before. You will go to him, but how to call on him I cannot say,” Lilia said, brows furrowed as she continued to search her texts. 

“Is he not an alpha now?” Victor asked, trying to keep track of all the new information. He had presented as an omega in his teen years, and most fated pairs were born in alpha/omega pairs. 

“He is not, but I saw it. You felt it too,” Lilia said. It was true Victor had felt that he was an alpha, his scent lingering in the dream. “Now, come read here with me. We have much work to do before you can go and ask him to be yours.”

* * *

The twenty-two years from Victor’s discovery of his fated mate until Victor felt ready to meet him was spent traveling the lands to meet others who had been in the same position. 

Victor met älvor who had lived centuries with their human mate, both of them barely remembering the time before they were together. The humans could almost all sense nature's magic, and nature was especially sensitive to them and their wishes, but they could not wield magic on their own. In one tribe high in the mountains Victor met the sibling of an älva who had tried to stay in the human realm, only to come back too weak to survive. In another tribe scattered over seven islands in the sea, he met an älva who had gone in hopes of bringing their fated back with her, only to come alone and broken-hearted. 

“Humans are not brought up as we are,” she said with a sad smile, and Victor’s heart ached for her. “They do not mate for life, most of the time, and he did not want to give it all up for me.”

In another tribe that laid on warm ground covered mostly in sand, he met a younger couple, both of them smiling widely as they told the tale of them meeting and coming together.

“I knew the moment I saw her that I would do anything to be with her. There was no doubt in my mind,” the omega said, and her alpha smiled back, and Victor’s fears subdued just a little. 

All and all, Victor met eight älvor in all of the älven world that had been fated with humans. Five were still happily mated, with children and strong bonds. Three were alone, and then one dead. Victor shivered as he, Lilia, and his royal guard rode back towards his home after being away for so long, wondering when it would be time for him -- for them. They had all told him that he would know. When the time was most right, he would feel it. Nature would guide him, and he would know what to do. Victor wished he could have complete faith that he would return with Yuuri in his arms, but he could not be certain. He would have to put trust into someone he knew he loved, but whom he didn’t truly know. He wanted to know him, wanted to be close to him, and to share his burdens, his joys, his life. Victor would ask the biggest sacrifice from him, something larger than was truly imaginable, and all he could do was hope to be ready for whatever outcome might be in store for them. 

He came home to the woodland to meet a large celebration, and he reveled in being united with his people, his mothers, his friends. Victor ate, danced, and sang, and played games, and felt content in the moment of being around those he loved, and that loved him in return. Now all he could do was wait. 

A year passed, before Victor woke in the middle of the night from the forest singing. It was unlike anything he had ever heard before, voices echoing against the walls of his bedroom, calling for him to come. Victor rose from the bed, grabbing the sheer white robe from beside his bed, where it had been resting ever since he returned. It was common for unmated omegan älvor to wear such a thing before their first shared heat and rut, and Victor hoped Yuuri would like it. This was his only chance, their only chance. He was equal parts scared and excited, and he almost tripped as he ran down the stairs into the night. The sky was light, in that way only summer skies can be, and Victor did not see a single soul as he ran on the walking paths into the large clearing in the middle of the vast and dense forest. A thick fog layed like a blanket over it, and Victor took a deep breath, feeling the song fill him as he walked into it. He closed his eyes, raising his hands, and started to dance. He felt his body almost disintegrate, as if swallowed up by the fog. Still he kept on dancing. He was not frightened. Soon he would be with Yuuri, and then all would be alright. 

Hopefully. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to read the third part now, check out this [twitter post](https://twitter.com/mjaoue/status/1217362304045649920?s=20), or you can hang tight for a week and subscribe to the series and read it then! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think in the comment section or on other platforms like:  
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/linisen) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mjaoue)


End file.
